How green is cocaine?

Although previous studies have found the affect of coca plants — the basis for cocaine — to be relatively small, Stony Brook researchers sensed something was amiss because the pace of deforestation in Colombia has accelerated over the past 20 years, even while population growth slowed and the country’s economy moved away from agriculture.

Cocaine production, however, grew during the same period. Colombia produces about three-quarters of the world’s cocaine, and the vast majority of coca grown there is processed into cocaine, though some is chewed as is by indigenous locals.

The researchers linked land-clearing to coca production by identifying that forests close to coca production were significantly more likely to be razed. On the plus side, they concluded that establishing more protected forests in Colombia would reduce deforestation.

So coca production helps destroy some of the world’s most biodiverse areas — but wait, there’s more. TGL did a quick Wikipedia search on how coca becomes cocaine, and found what reads almost like a comedic laundry list of some of the world’s most toxic substances — and remember this is stuff that people rub around on their gums.

In a process that allegedly hasn’t changed much since the early 1900′s, one anonymous producer described:

The leaves were dried for half a day, then chopped into small pieces … and sprinkled with a small amount of powdered cement… This mixture was soaked in … gasoline for a day, then the gasoline was removed and the leaves were pressed for remaining liquid… Then battery acid was used … to create a phase separation in which the cocaine free base in the gasoline was acidified and extracted into a few buckets of “murky-looking smelly liquid.” Once powdered, caustic soda was added …

So, to answer the question posed in the headline, How green is cocaine?, the answer is — well, I think you already know the answer.